Machine for upsetting the ends of steel bars



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. H. BOURNE. MACHINE FOR UPSETTING THE ENDS 0F QTEEL BARS. No. 515,190. Patented Feb. 20, 1894.

94%???{4694/ ci nwenzbv Ebenezer H Bour-n /4? j @W 6 9% Mao Mu (No Model.) j 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. H. BOURNE. MACHINE FOR UPSETTING 'THE ENDS .01 STEEL BARS.

No. 515,190. Patented Feb. 20', 1894.

EBENEZER BOURNE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

MACHINE FOR U PSETTING THE ENDS OF STEEL BARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 515,190, dated February 20, 1894.

7 Application filed March 6,1893; Serial No. 464,910- (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EBENEZER H. BOURNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Upsetting the Ends of Steel Bars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has reference toa machine for upsetting the ends of steel bars to form blanks for vehicle springs. In the well-known elliptical springs of every day use in carriages, buggies and wagons, and which generally consist of two, three, or more spring straps or leaves placed one upon the other, there is a main supporting spring which has a head at each-end to attach the opposite spring section. This head is formed with flanges or ears at its sides, substantially as seen in Figure 10 of the accompanying drawings. In the production of these main spring heads prior to my invention two ways among others have been known and practiced. According to the older practice a separate piece or clip was welded onto the end of the spring bar to form the head. But it was difficult to get a perfect weld, and flaws in the welding were a very common thing and detracted greatly from the character of the work. The other way was to work the head out of the steel bar itself through a number of re-heatings and successive operations by power hammers and shaping. machines, making altogethera slow and laborious process in the reduction of the blank to the form seen in Fig. 8.

My invention avoids the objections to the welding process by making the head out of the steel bar itself, and it avoids the objection to the second method named by producing the blank for the head as shown in Fig. 8 in a single heat and in a single thrust of the machine, requiring but a moments time. Indeed, the bar of steel suitably heated at its end is no sooner gripped in the machine against endwise movement than it is upset and finished so far as this initial operation is concerned, and with a better result than is obtainable .by either of the other processes.

Having thus stated the principle of my invention, I will proceed now to set forth the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle, and then will particu- 4 is a face view of one of the dies, showing a.

section of the plunger at the extremity of its stroke as when a thrust has been completed and the material is reduced to the form shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 5 is a central horizontal'section of the die shown in Fig. 4, on line 1 y, of said figure. Figs. 6 and 7 are cross sections on lines 00, at, and 4., 4, respectively, Fig. 4. Fig. 8 is a side elevation of one end of a steel bar, and Fig. 9 is an edge view thereof and showing the head blank made in this machine. Fig. 10 is an end view showing a spring head made up.

The machine here shown has a suitable frame A, preferably cast whole and made sufficiently heavy to withstand the severe strains that come upon it. A frame of considerable weight and solidity is necessary because the operation of upsetting the bar at one thrust takes not only very considerable direct power, but firmness and strength laterally to withstand the side pressure in the dies. Centrally within this frame is a space for the dies B and 'B'. The die B in this instance is stationary and has its abutments in the frame A, and the die B is movable laterally and is under control of the arm or bar C, which extends out through the side of the machine. The die B is constructed upon its face as clearly seen in Figs. 2 and 4, and has a recess of the shape or form shown and as deep as the thickness of the bar and the blank head shown in edge view, Fig. 9, while the die B has a fiat side or face opposite this recess. When the dies are closed'by moving up the die B, the bar will fill the neck I) and be firmly held therein while the heated end is in the chamber b'of the dies.

The stationary die B has a spring pressed stop b shown clearly in Figs. 2 and 5, and

this stop is supported in a post D adjustable more or less longitudinally of the machine so as to bring the stop nearer to or farther from the entrance into the die. This stop serves as a limit to the feed of the steel bar, and determines or gages the material to be upset. Hence, more or less of the said material will be converted into the head of the spring as more or less of it projects into the chamber 1). The head of the stop 12 is beveled on the back so thatwhen the plunger is thrust into the dies, it will bear the stop back against its spring and out of the way, and when the plunger is withdrawn, the spring will again assert itself and throw the stop into stopping position for the next bar. When the steel bar is thus fed or introduced into the dies against the stop b it is ready for the thrust of the machine except that it is not yet locked against said thrust. To accomplish this locking or gripping, or holding of the bar so that the end thereof may be upset as desired without moving said bar endwise, I employ a heavy lever E arranged upon the side of the machine and supported on a pivot e near its front end. This lover or bar necessarily is a very strong one because it has two important functions to perform. First, it serves to operate the grip or hold er for the steel bar. To this end I provide a lateral movable head F having an arm f extending through the end of the said lever E. The head F lies immediately in front of the die B and bears against the steel bar or material and presses the same against the die B, or other firm abutment. At the opposite end of the machine is a cam wheel G, fixed upon the rotating power shaft H, driven by the pulley h which is constantlyin motion. The lever E extends to the side of this cam wheel, and the construction and arrangement are such that as the said cam turns, it bears against the said lever and forces the opposite end with the block F in against the steel bar, and holds it firmly against the action of the plunger K. When the limit of the plunger has been reached and the plunger is withdrawn, the cam Gr also turns so as to release the pressure upon the block F and consequently the steel bar. At the same time that this lat eral pressure comes upon the stock or bar by the block F, the die B, which is connected by its arm 0 with the short end of the lever E, is likewise forced in against the material and against the opposite die B, and the space between the two diesis perfectly closed and kept closed during the upsetting operations. The plunger K shown in edge view in Fig. 1 is not entirely withdrawn from the dies at any time, but passes behind the stop 19 and rests there while the machine is temporarily stopped and until another bar is placed in position to be upset. Then the machine is started through the clutch mechanism M and the controlling lever m, or their equivalent, and one single revolution of the shaft H is made. It should have been said that the plunger K is operated bya pitman N from a crank or eccentric in or upon the main shaft H. When a. revolution of the said shaft is produced as here described, and the material or stock has been upset and shaped as-shown. in Fig. 8, all the parts are returned to their original and normal position, seen in Fig. 1. In this position the dies of course are apart, the block F and the plunger are withdrawn, and everything is in readiness for another operation.

' It is obvious from the foregoing description that the operations of the machine are exceedingly rapid, and that the upsetting of the steel bar 0 is the work of but an instant when once it is placed in the dies.

It might be supposed that the side pressure of the block F in the manner shown here would not be suflicient to hold the bar 0 against the severe thrust of the plunger, but it must be remembered that the material within the die upon which the plunger operates is at a white heat and yields readily to the action of the plunger, and that as soon as upsetting begins the hot metal overflows the shoulders s of the die and thus makes the said shoulders divide the thrust, and especially the harder part thereof which comes at the last.

The immediate shoulder here shown, and

which comes against the steel bar and consequently has to withstand the severest strain and wear, consists in a hard steel pin 8, set into the die and occupying the initial point of the shoulder. This enables a softer die to be used than would otherwise be practicable because the point of Wear and strain is thus protected by the steel pins.

The shaft H with its cam G, and the plunger K operated therefrom, makes one complete revolution with each operation, and always stops in the same place and remains stopped until another steel bar has been inserted to be upset, when the clutch mechanism M is engaged and another operation is performed. Everything about the machine is automatic but the starting thereof, when the operator is ready, through the mechanism running from treadleT to the clutch M, and the introduction and removal of the steel bar, which is done by hand.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a machine for making blank steel heads for vehicle springs, the combination, substantially as shown and described, of a stationary die, having a matrix composed of the neck I) and a chamber 19', the latter being of a width substantially equal to the width of the wings from which the head is formed,

a spring pressed stop within the stationary die to limit the movement of the bar, a fiatfaced movable die, a bar-holder, means to move the bar-holder and the movable die, and a plunger acting upon the end of the bar, substantially as set forth. a

2. In a machine for making blank steel heads for vehicle springs, the combination, substantially as shown and described, of a stationary die having a matrix composed of able die, and a plunger acting upon the end [0 the neck 6 and a chamber 11', the latter being of the bar, substantially as set forth.

of a width substantially equal to the width of Witness my hand to the foregoing specifithe wings from which the head is formed, a cation this 21st day of January, 1893. spring pressed stop arranged within the stationary die to limit the movement of the bar, EBENEZER BOURNE' means to adjust such stop longitudinally of Witnesses: the die, a flat-faced movable die, a bar-holder, E. J. HESS,

means to move the bar-holder and the mov- GEORGIA SOHAEFFER. 

